A 62-year-old Los Angeles woman has been awarded $16 million in her lawsuit against Beverly Hills Unified and a former coach that stemmed from her sexual abuse while she was a student at Beverly Hills High School more than four decades ago.
The Santa Monica Superior Court jury reached its verdict on Nov. 26, granting the plaintiff $13 million in past emotional distress damages and the rest for her future emotional distress. The panel assessed responsibility at 60% to the district and the remainder to the perpetrator, who headed the varsity football and baseball teams. The jury began deliberating on Nov. 21.
The abuses began in September 1978 when the plaintiff was a junior varsity cheerleader. The coach made measurements of her body, telling her he was commissioned by a government health agency to monitor the growth of teen females, the suit stated. But as things progressed the woman slowly confided in her mother and the plaintiff also eventually spoke to the police, but the school administration appeared skeptical and left her feeling that no one there cared, the suit stated.
The abuses lasted until the spring of 1981, the suit filed in June 2020 stated. The plaintiff was left feeling like a pariah among classmates, never felt like going to a class reunion and never married or had children, the suit further stated.
The woman’s attorney, Stephen D. Weisskopf, said the woman settled the part of the case against the coach, who is still alive, before trial. The BHUSD admitted in its court papers that the coach abused the plaintiff and that he was unfit to be employed by the district. But the district denied that administrators knew or should have known that the girl posed a threat to girl students and disputed her claim for damages.